Tech Files mailbag: Searching for “cheap” broadband service

I often receive email from readers of my Tech Files column who are looking for advice or recommendations. From time to time, I’m republishing edited versions of these question-and-answer exchanges here on SiliconBeat.

Q: Is there such an item as a reliable and inexpensive Internet hookup? I’m on a retirement income and besides that I’m cheap.

A: AT&T offers a basic DSL service for about $15 a month. That’s an introductory price, though; the service cost jumps to $25 a month after the first year.

Comcast offers a similar basic broadband service and recently was charging just $20 a month for it on an introductory basis. However, that company’s offers change frequently. At last check, Comcast was offering no discount on its regular $50 a month price for this Performance Starter service. But the company was offering its faster Performance service for $30 a month for the first six months.

You can get a listing of the broadband providers in your area by going to a special site maintained by the State of California’s Public Utilities Commission. Once you enter your address, it will show the providers of wired, wireless and satellite access in your neighborhood. The site provides those providers’ Web site addresses and phone numbers which you can use to check on their rates.

Those outside the Bay Area can find broadband providers in their area by going to the National Broadband Map, a site run by a pair of federal agencies: the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Federal Communications Commission. To use that service, you similarly enter your address.